


It Started Out With a Kiss (Or: How It Ended Up Like This)

by love_stella



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: AU-not hockey players, Getting Together, M/M, Meddling Friends, Tony Saves The Day, awkward boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-05-19 06:54:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_stella/pseuds/love_stella
Summary: “Who was that?” Misha asks, cutting him off.“It was no one, don’t worry about it,” Tony tries to say, knowing damn well it’s going to be impossible to get them to stop now that they’ve started.“No no no, that wasn’t no one,” Misha says, “You don’t just walk up and kiss no one.”





	It Started Out With a Kiss (Or: How It Ended Up Like This)

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [Sugarchev](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugarchev/pseuds/Sugarchev) in the [PuckingRare2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/PuckingRare2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Person A is getting unwanted attention at a bar, when person B (a complete stranger) swoops in and kisses them all, "Oh, sorry I'm late, babe," to drive away the suitor.
> 
> You know the rest.
> 
> Relationships can go beyond the suggested pairings, but Bolts strongly preferred.
> 
> thanks to aimee, heather, and sarah for their encouragement and maryam for the beta

Tony isn’t sure why he let Mathieu and Misha drag him to the bar, the idea of being around a bunch of sweaty obnoxious strangers doesn’t appeal to him right now but Misha just has to point his puppy dog eyes in his direction and he now he’s cramming into a booth with the Misha while Mathieu gets them the first round. 

Tony looks around the bar, trying to see what’s taking Mathieu so long when he sees it: some creep is trying to hit on another guy, and the guy is clearly not having it. Everything about the guy’s body language is screaming back off, and it looks like he’s trying to verbally tell the guy he’s not interested but the creep either isn’t listening or doesn’t care. 

The guy catches Tony’s eyes with his own, and that’s it, Tony can’t watch this any longer. It’s not until he gets halfway across the bar that he realizes he has no idea what he’s going to do when he gets there, he just knows he can’t watch the guy get harassed by some creep any longer, especially with the way the creep keeps leaning in like he’s trying to bite the guy’s neck. If he leans away any further Tony knows he’s going to fall out of his chair and that’s just not alright. 

Tony doesn’t think anymore before he walks up behind the guy and, as gently as he can, grabs his arm to turn him around before pressing their lips together in the most awkward kiss he’s ever experienced. 

“Sorry I’m late babe, I got caught at work,” Tony says, and  _ who is this person and what happened to Tony _ he thinks to himself. 

Luckily the guy goes along with it, wrapping his arm around Tony’s middle and saying “No worries, it wasn’t Karen again, was it?” 

_ Damn, he’s good _ , Tony thinks before continuing the totally-not-made-up conversation. “She couldn’t find the papers we needed in that mess she calls an office.”

“God she’s the worst,” the guy replies without skipping a beat. 

“Yep,” Tony says, before remembering that there’s still a creep lingering on the other side of his new beau. “I’m sorry, you are?” he asks the creep. 

“Leaving,” the creep says with one last leer in the guy’s direction. 

The guy --Tony really should learn his name instead of just mentally calling him  _ the guy _ \-- leans up to give Tony another peck on the lips as the creep walks away, and Tony decides he should wrap his arms around the guy to really sell the bit. 

“Ok he’s gone,” Tony says once he opens his eyes. 

“Thanks man,” the guy says, “He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“No problem, glad I could help,” Tony says. 

“I’m Taylor, by the way,” the guy --no, Taylor-- says. “Do you always kiss random boys in bars to protect them?” 

_ Oh no, he’s funny _ Tony thinks. “Nope, you’re a special case,” he laughs. 

“Well I’m glad,” Taylor says, “Seriously, let me buy you a drink as a thank you.”

“I’m actually here with some friends,” Tony says, remembering that he left Mathieu and Misha at their table before becoming Taylor’s temporary hero. 

“Oh shit man, sorry, you should go back to them,” Taylor says. 

“Probably,” is all Tony can think to say. 

“Thanks again --” Taylor says before realizing he doesn’t know Tony’s name. 

“Tony.”

“Tony,” Taylor says. “I owe you one.”

“I’m just glad he backed off,” Tony says. 

“Me too,” Taylor says. 

“I should get back,” Tony says, because now he just feels awkward standing there with the guy he just walked up to and kissed. 

“See you around,” Taylor says before letting Tony go back to his friends. 

_ Probably not _ Tony thinks, and that thought really shouldn’t make him as sad as it does, but that’s Tony’s life. 

 

Of course Mathieu and Misha saw the entire thing, judging by the wolf-whistles and the balled up napkins they throw at him when he gets back to the table. 

“What the fuck was --?” Mathieu asks.

“Who was that?” Misha asks, cutting him off. 

“It was no one, don’t worry about it,” Tony tries to say, knowing damn well it’s going to be impossible to get them to stop now that they’ve started. 

“No no no, that wasn’t no one,” Misha says, “You don’t just walk up and kiss  _ no one _ .”

“Listen, he needed help, and I helped him,” Tony tries to explain, “That creep wouldn’t have left him alone if I hadn’t done something.”

“So you kissed him?” Mathieu asks, and now that he’s actually thinking about it, Tony can’t believe he just walked up to a complete stranger and kissed him before acting like they had some sort of domestic relationship. 

“It...seemed like a good idea at the time,” Tony says. 

“And he kissed you,” Misha oh so helpfully adds. 

“Again, it was just to get the creep to leave, it’s no big deal,” Tony says, “Can we drop it already?” 

“Fine, fine, we’ll drop it,” Mathieu says, and shit, when did Tony’s hands start shaking and why is it so hard to breathe right now?

“Yeah, you missed Jozy getting totally shut down when he tried to hit on that girl over there. It was epic,” Misha says too quickly.

“I didn’t get shut down, she just couldn’t see how awesome I am and we decided to agree to disagree,” Mathieu insists.

Tony’s grateful for the distraction, is happy to let his friends’ argument wash over him while he focuses on the ice cubes in Misha’s drink and calm himself down. He’s not sure why he’s so upset about being called out for how weird the entire Taylor situation is, but something about it is making him prickly towards his friends when they don’t honestly deserve it. 

Tony manages to finish his drink while they’re still arguing, and with that, he’s ready to leave. He says as much to Mathieu and Misha who barely look away from each other for long enough to nod their heads his direction and Tony takes that as permission to slide out from the booth and head home.

On his way out Tony tries not to look for Taylor and tries even harder not to be sad when he doesn’t see him anywhere in the bar. 

\---

Tony wakes up the next morning and tries not to think about last night’s events because if he thinks about them he’ll realize just how ridiculous he was.  _ What normal person goes up to a complete stranger and kisses them _ Tony thinks for the hundredth time since it happened, and great, now he’s thinking about it  _ again _ , and the more he thinks about it the sadder he gets that he’ll probably never see Taylor again. Sure, they only just met, but he’s exactly the type of guy Tony would love to get to know more: smart, funny, and handsome as fuck. 

Tony somehow manages to get ready for class while his mind is running a thousand miles a minute in a thousand different directions all of them involving Taylor, he’s pretty proud that the only thing he forgot to do was put on socks before he put his shoes on but no one needs to know about that. 

He’s still thinking about Taylor when he goes into the local coffee shop, and if he didn’t know any better he’d swear that Taylor is waiting for his own order. Surely that’s just his imagination, he’s just thinking about Taylor too hard, it’s just a guy who looks eerily similar to him, Taylor probably wouldn’t be caught dead slumming it in a place like this. 

The woman in front of Tony starts coughing and it’s enough to make not-Taylor look in their direction and  _ shit,  _ that _ is  _ Taylor. For the second time in the last 24 hours their eyes lock and Taylor’s order is all but forgotten when Taylor recognizes Tony and starts walking over. 

“Tony!” Taylor says, waving. 

“Hi Taylor,” Tony replies, not knowing what to do with his own hands. 

“I think I owe you a drink,” Taylor says pulling out his wallet. 

“It was nothing, honestly” Tony insists, but Taylor has a determined look on his face so there’s no way Tony’s winning this battle. 

“You saved my ass,” Taylor says, “Let me buy your coffee. Please.”

“You really don’t have to,” Tony tries again. 

“Dude, I’m just going to stay in line next to you and cut you off when you go to pay,” Taylor says, and true to his word it’s exactly what he does. 

“Thanks I guess,” Tony says, and  _ shit now you just sound like a dick _ , he thinks. “I mean. Thanks. Seriously.”

“D’you wanna have a seat?” Taylor asks once they’ve both gotten their coffee. 

“I’ve got class in an hour but sure,” Tony says.

“Sweet! I feel like we should get to know each other since we’re dating,” Taylor laughs, and Tony hopes his cheeks aren’t as red as they feel. 

“Yeah, you have no idea how annoying my friends were last night,” Tony says. 

“Sorry about that,” Taylor apologizes. 

“It’s fine, they’re idiots,” Tony says, and he’s surprised when he finds that he means it. 

They find a comfortable set of chairs in the back of the coffee shop to sit in and before Tony knows it listening to a story about Taylor’s latest hockey lesson. It turns out he teaches youth hockey, mainly 5-7 year olds at the local ice rink, and during their last lesson one of the kids went on the ice without a blade on one of his skates and “we ended up spending an hour just pushing Julie around on the ice pretending that she was a figure skater instead of actually doing any hockey.” 

“That sounds incredible,” Tony says.

“It was a lot of fun,” Taylor laughs, “The kids need a break every now and then anyways.” 

“Do you play?” Tony asks, and judging by the way Taylor cringes and rubs his knee like it hurts that was the wrong question to ask. 

“I used to,” Taylor says, “Took a bad fall a couple years ago, my knee’s too shot to let me play anymore.”

“Oh man, I’m sorry,” Tony says. 

“It’s fine now,” Taylor says even though it doesn’t seem fine to Tony, “Anyways, do you really work with anyone named Karen?” 

“No, I’m actually a student,” Tony says. 

“Oh sweet,” Taylor says. “What are you studying?”

“Comparative literature,” Tony says, “It’s a lot more interesting than it sounds I promise.”

“No dude, that’s awesome,” Taylor insists, “I wish I had more time to read.”

“Yeah,” Tony says, managing to take a sip of his drink for the first time since they sat down. 

Tony’s alarm decides to interrupt another story about one of Taylor’s hockey lessons, and Tony’s not sure how an hour already past but apparently it did.

“Shit I’ve gotta go,” he says apologetically. 

“Oh shit,” Taylor says, looking at the clock. “Sorry man, I don’t want to make you late.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tony says, after all, he’s got 15 minutes to get to class and it only takes 10 to get to his campus. “I’ll see you around. Thanks again for the coffee.”

“Here, lemme get your number real quick, this was nice,” Taylor says, and Tony tries not to be pleased at the red on the tips of Taylor’s ears. 

“Yeah sure,” Tony says, typing his number into Taylor’s phone.

If he blushes at the smiley face emoji Taylor sends him when he walks out the door, no one needs to know. 

\---

Tony’s not expecting Taylor to actually use his number, but surely enough, when Tony wakes up from his mid-morning nap there’s a message waiting for him. 

**Taylor**

**Hey :)**

**Me**

**Hi**

**What’s up?**

**Taylor**

**Nm. just wanted to say hi**

**Me**

**Cool well, hello**

**Taylor**

**You hungry?**

**Me**

**A little, why?**

**Taylor**

**Wanna get lunch?**

**Me**

**Now?**

**Taylor**

**No tomorrow**

**…**

**Yes now**

Tony considers his options, it’s not like he has any pressing plans besides napping for a few more hours and he really likes Taylor but he doesn’t want to seem too needy so he waits a minute before texting back. 

**Me**

**K**

**Where d’you wanna meet?**

**Taylor**

**The burger place across the street from the coffeeshop?**

**They always have extra pickles**

**Me**

**Pickles are gross but ok**

**See you in 30?**

**Taylor**

**It’s a date**

_ A date? _ Tony thinks, starting to panic a little. _ Is this a date? It can’t be. Why would a guy like Taylor want to date a guy like me? People say things like it’s a date all the time, right? That doesn’t mean it’s an actual date _ . Ok, maybe he’s panicking more than just a little bit, if his racing thoughts and pounding pulse are anything to go by. He manages to focus on his breathing enough to slow it down but that doesn’t make him feel much better about Taylor casually calling meeting him for lunch a date, but he does feel like an idiot for freaking out so much. 

Tony tries not to spend too much time figuring out what to wear on this not-a-date-but-maybe-a-date-thing and ends up settling on navy blue button up that Misha’s said brings out his eyes and his favorite pair of jeans, and he almost sends a selfie to Mathieu asking if it looks like he’s trying to hard but he knows that  _ that _ would be trying to hard so he hits delete instead of send. 

It takes him exactly 14 minutes to walk to the restaurant, and since it took him 10 to change out of his sweats, he’s six minutes early and now he has to wait nervously for Taylor to show up. Or, he  _ should _ have to wait, but when he takes a peek into the restaurant he sees Taylor sitting at one of the tables in the back of the room nervously checking his phone as if waiting for something.  _ Oh wait _ , Tony thinks, _ he’s waiting for me _ . 

Tony considers waiting another minute before entering the restaurant, but he knows that he’ll only get more nervous the longer he waits so he bites the bullet and walks over to where Taylor’s sitting and stands by the chair across from Taylor as if waiting for an invitation to join him.

“Hey bro,” Taylor says.

“Hey,” Tony says. “Sorry I’m late.”

“You’re not late,” Taylor says. “I’m just insanely early.”

“I’ve been waiting outside for a minute,” Tony confesses, hoping that Taylor doesn’t think it’s weird.

“Nervous?” Taylor asks, and there’s nothing judgmental in his voice, just curious. 

“A little,” Tony admits. 

“First dates can be scary,” Taylor says. 

_ Oh god is this actually a date was he serious I don’t know how to do this _ Tony’s mind starts rambling, and Taylor must be able to tell because he gently puts his hand on top of Tony’s and asks if he’s ok. 

“I’ll be fine,” Tony says, even though it feels like a lie. 

“D’you not want this to be a date?” Taylor asks. “Because it doesn’t have to be one.”

“No,” Tony says, watching Taylor’s eyes drop, “This can be a date. I just... Wasn’t expecting it I guess.”

“I thought I said it was a date in the text?” Taylor asks.

“No, you did,” Tony says. “I guess I just over thought it like I always do.”

“I’m sorry,” Taylor says, starting to move his hand off Tony’s when he realizes it’s still there. 

“No, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Tony promises. “Can we start over?”

“Sure,” Taylor says. 

“Hi Taylor,” Tony says, awkwardly standing up and holding out his hand to Taylor. 

“Hi Tony,” Taylor repeats, shaking Tony’s hand and holding on for a second longer than he needs to. “I’m excited to have lunch with you.”

“On a date,” Tony says, managing a small smile. 

“Yes,” Taylor smiles. 

The waitress decides that this is the perfect time to take their orders, and it seems that both of them have been here enough to know their orders already and the waitress boredly takes them down before leaving without another word. 

“That was weird,” Taylor says, looking at Tony like he doesn’t understand what just happened.

“Maybe she thought we wanted to be left alone,” Tony says. 

“Uh huh,” Taylor shrugs. “I guess we could use a little privacy,” he adds, wiggling his eyebrows and startling a laugh out of Tony. 

“Not that much,” Tony laughs. 

“A boy can dream,” Taylor says, and Tony’s not going to let himself dwell on that statement because the last thing he needs is to start panicking again in the middle of the restaurant. 

“How’ve you been,” Tony says, hoping to steer the conversation towards Taylor and away from himself. 

That’s all the invitation Taylor needs, launching into another story of shenanigans that his team got into since Tony saw him last. Tony doesn’t follow all of it, more focused on the way Taylor’s eyes are lighting up and his hands start moving wildly, reenacting one of the boys’ body language as he fell into a pile of snow for a reason that Tony didn’t catch. 

Before he knows it, their food is in front of them and the waitress is gone before either of them can thank her, but Taylor doesn’t stop talking or asking Tony small questions about his day. 

“Can I have your pickles?” Taylor asks when Tony starts picking them off his burger disgustedly.

“Sure,” he says, handing them over gently.

“Thanks,” Taylor says, not bothering to put them on his burger, instead shoving them straight into his mouth. 

“Gross,” Tony mutters but he’s smiling so hopefully he didn’t just offend Taylor.

“Your loss,” Taylor says, wiping his mouth victoriously. 

They finish their food, settling into a comfortable silence as they eat and before Tony knows it, he’s trying to find a way to eat slower so the  _ date _ doesn’t have to end. 

Taylor insists on paying even though Tony got his wallet out first, saying something out lunch being his idea so it should be his treat, and Tony’s powerless to say no to the look in his eyes. 

“D’you need a ride home?” Taylor asks, fully aware that they’ve been sitting in the restaurant long enough that it’s started to get dark outside. 

“If it’s not out of your way?” Tony asks. 

“I don’t mind,” Taylor says, leading the way to his car. 

“Thanks,” Tony says, settling into the passenger seat while Taylor starts the car. 

The drive is only a couple minutes and again, Tony wishes he lived farther so he didn’t have to say goodbye to Taylor so soon. 

“I’ll see you soon?” Taylor asks as Tony gets out of the car. 

“Definitely,” Tony says, closing the door and heading to his apartment where he’ll be alone again. 

Tony doesn’t get a chance to be too sad, when he checks his phone after he sits on the couch, there’s a text from Taylor:

**Taylor**

**:)**

**Had fun**

**Me**

**Me too**

**Taylor**

**See you soon?**

**Me**

**Yes**

**:)**

For a second Tony debates the smiley face, but he’s happy and he wants Taylor to know it so he hits send. 

Taylor sends back a stream of smiley faces with some winky faces and Tony’s not sure how he got so lucky to go on a date with this ridiculous boy but whatever he did he’s grateful for it. 

\---

Tony’s not sure why he agreed to bring Taylor around to meet the boys, he should have insisted on a restaurant or something but for some reason he’s holding the bar door open for his boyfriend and leading him to the table everyone’s already sitting at. 

“Don’t be weird,” Tony pleads to his friends, knowing it’s a lost cause. 

“So this is the infamous Taylor,” Misha says. 

“Oh I’m infamous am I?” Taylor asks, smirking at Tony, “Do you talk about me a lot?”

“Shut up,” Tony says. “They’re just nosey.”

“We’re concerned friends,” Mitch insists. “Speaking of, can we talk to Taylor in private?”

“Absolutely not,” Tony says at the same time Taylor brightly says “Sure,” and Tony curses every decision that lead him to this moment. 

“I said don’t be weird,” Tony pleads again.

“We just want to make sure your boy isn’t a serial killer,” Mathieu says. “He’ll be fine.” 

“I’ll be fine babe,” Taylor says, pressing a quick kiss to Tony’s lips before saying “let’s do this” to the crowd watching them. 

Misha shoos Tony away from the table, Tony really doesn’t want to leave but he does they’ll just be more embarrassing if he sticks around so he grabs an empty seat at the bar and tries not to think of all the stupid things they’re asking Taylor about.

Tony gets lost playing on his phone when he feels an arm touch his, and he’s definitely not in the mood to be hit on today so he just shrugs the hand off before looking up and seeing Taylor’s smiling face. 

“Sorry I’m late babe,” Taylor says, pulling Tony into a kiss that lingers a few seconds longer than it needs to. “That interview was nuts.” 

“I bet,” Tony says. “I hope they weren’t too nosey.”

“They were fine,” Taylor says, “But you owe me a drink.”

“I can do that,” Tony says. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm @aIexfortins on twitter if you wanna hang out


End file.
